Update 11/26-11/30
My co-worker James brought in a fridge for all of us to
use. As Elizabeth went to put her lunch
away, she ran into a problem.
Elizabeth: someone who doesn't respect its importance
blocked the fridge with a box
Christy: I know how it feels.
On Tuesday evening, we had a full house, including Zach,
Nater, Nater's friend and her 5 year old, and then later, Lucas and 10 of his
closest friends. They were up pretty
late, especially because Lucas didn't get home until after 10. I'm sure he was hurting the next morning when
everyone got up at 4 am to catch a flight to Cancun for a family wedding.
The following morning, possibly because I didn't get much
sleep the night before, I was feeling a little under the weather and decided to
call in sick to get some rest before my trip.
I did wake up to bring Percy to the groomer though, and while I was
getting him ready, the 5 year old, a la little Susie Lou Hoo, came yawning into
the living room. I put on some TV for
her and then left with Percy. When I
returned she popped her head up from the couch, with bag raised up, announcing
that she had found Chex Mix for breakfast.
I suggested I make her pancakes instead, and she informed me that her
mom had pancakes on the approved, "healthy breakfast list." She also let me know that Hot Cocoa went very
well will pancakes. A couple of hours
later, my little friend and her mother left, and I hurried to pack and pick up
Percy before finally getting some rest.
The problem I ran into was that while I was not feeling 100%, and needed
sleep, my head and heart were far too excited to get any real sleep. After lying there for an hour, Percy heard
something and went to protect me. I then
realized I had failed to lock the doors, panicked and went to investigate. I saw a shadow and a light go off at the end
of the basement stairs so I bravely called out, "Hello!?" It was Arda, Lucas' friend, who had been
sleeping downstairs, with a dead phone and no car to get him home. I offered to drive him to a bus station
(which later I realized it would have been quicker to drive him home.) As I was dropping him off, he commented,
"Wow! You've got a lot done today!"
I agreed, although, I also pointed out that it was also 3PM. Arda's mind was blown.
Oh! I totally took holiday pictures of Percy when he was
all cleaned up. I also bought him a hunter’s
hat that his little ears poked through with matching tie. These were more fun in theory, as the hat
gave him old man eye brows (I can hear my father's moan from here.) Here are
some out takes:
Percy, as always, was resigned to his travel experience.
I was SO excited to get home to NY, despite the
snowfall. And as an added bonus, Maureen
and my parents were able to safely get to the airport to pick me up! Apparently, Kevin woke up at 2 in the morning
to ask Mo if they were leaving to pick me up.
Mo didn't know, so she called and woke up her mother, who of course was
thrilled to hear from her. :)
It took less than 5 seconds for Percy to fully appreciate
the winter wonderland that had arrived for us.
Then I took a nap before heading to one of the most
gloriously enjoyable Thanksgivings, ever.
I snapped this picture of Maureen pretending to take credit for the
cooking, even though it was all Stacey.
Bailey: Jackie asked me when she was going to be allowed
to sit at the adult table. I told her
never, because you're getting older but the number of adults are not getting
smaller.
True story.
Totally random, but Stacey has enormous fish (AKA sharks)
in her fish tank.
Me: Whoa, what are you doing with Carter?
Sean: WHO DID THIS!?
Bails: Morgan.
Sean: No, she didn't.
Bails: Yeah, she did.
She came into the kitchen giggling and asked mom to come look at what
she did, and then mom said, "I like it better this way."
Before dinner, Sean gave a beautiful blessing/toast. He started by saying, "When I woke up
this morning, I thought "Who's got it better than me?" And I know
many of you feel the same way. And then
he talking about his blessings, and how thankful he was for Stacey's mom, who
gave him his life, basically. It was
beautiful, and while he was getting choked up, we were all tearing up because
of how sweet it was. Hours later, when
I was in the car on our way home, my dad said, "You know, it took
everything not to say to Sean, "better than I."
Sean was also talking about looking into college costs
again after realizing that his kids might want to get more than 4 year
degrees. (Although, I think Jackie is
just going to wait for Ellen DeGeneres retire and take her job.) to Morgan told
him that she looked up the best college for (I totally forget for what), and
decided she wanted to go to Stamford.
Morgan: We should totally visit Stamford.
Jackie: We DID visit Stamford.
Morgan: We did?
Sean: You're not going to Stamford.
As we were cleaning up the kitchen after dinner...
Michelle: Does Percy want some turkey?
Me: Yeah!
Michelle: I wasn't sure.
Percy looks like he only eats organic.
Kevin said to Kyle, "What a piggy!" and then
shoved a chocolate covered something in his mouth.
While we were playing Taboo:
Kevin: Something you would put in your sleeping bag.
Michelle's son Nate: Meat! Milk!
Me: Michelle, what kind of sleepovers are you having at
your house?
The next morning Carla and I brought the girls to the
diner. I was a little late picking them
up, so naturally they had already decided on what they would order, which was
essentially over two meals for everyone plus milkshakes. Except for Jackie who said, "I'm on a
diet so I didn't get the milkshake."
Let me back up, as soon as we walked in, the girls went
over and talked to a bunch of people throughout the diner. It felt like a
whilewind of hello's. When they returned
to the table, Carla turned to them and asked, "Are one of you the
mayor?"
Bails: I was really popular in preschool things went down
from there.
Carla: So you peaked in preschool?
Bails: Yup.
Morgan: If you could be one age for the rest of your
life, what would it be?
Carla and I: 27
Morgan: Ask Jackie how old she would be.
Jackie: 63
Carla: Not 65 so you could get retirement benefits?
Jackie: You make a good point.
Then the girls told us about Sean's friends girlfriend
who was 27, but was also crazy and scary (to them.) Carla and I decided to change our age to 30
then. Also, Jackie requested that we
bake afterwards, and suggested that maybe we give some of the treats to the old
neighbors.
Me: What is old in this scenario?
Jackie: 63. There
is this woman next door that is delightful...
Me: And now we know where 63 comes from.
The other woman stopped by, also around 63, and when they
were chatting, Bails told her not to tell them where she lived or Jackie would
stop by. We all laughed, until later,
when Jackie said, "Where does she live again, maybe we could stop by and
drop off some cookies." Apparently,
Bails had a genuine warning.
Carla: Jackie, you are cutting totally weird. Is that how you actually cut things?
Jackie: You know, 97% percent of Americans cut like me -
wrong. Actually, Grandpa told me Aunt
Tiffany doesn't know how to cut things, either.
Me: It's true. I'm
cutting this waffle with a fork for a reason.
Me: Okay people! We need to get on this food. We have potato pancakes left...
Morgan: I was in charge of the bacon!
Me: What about this butter?
Jackie: Hold on.
Okay, I'll just put this chicken nugget and single fry in my
pocket. There ya go. All done!
Ready for a picture.
On our way to the grocery store:
Jackie: Dad was overly excited about everything
yesterday. It got old quick. I was all, get over it! move on! Focus on the
ppl who are with you now!
Carla: Wow, you could be a psychologist.
I also mentioned that we were very close Sean & Stacey's
old condo, and asked if Bails remembered her old 'hood. Everyone wanted to make
a little visit, and I was grateful I was able to remember where it was. And, for those who might not know, their
condo was next door to Sing Sing prison.
Carla: Bailey,
this is where I dropped you!
Morgan: Jackie, look! Sing Sing! Come check out your
future home!
As we were leaving, we discussed how we should have
knocked on the door.
Jackie: Or just walked in and asked, "Ya got
snacks?" Then I could have traded my chicken finger and fry.
Then we made lots of baked goods, and played some
Telestrations. I love that my nieces consider me such a great baker, pretty
much the only ones that do, and I appreciate it greatly.
Later that evening, I met Evivova for a movie and
drinks. We went to go see Hunger Games
3. The last movie she had seen was the
first Hunger Games, and I hadn't seen any of them because reading the books was
too emotional for me. For Evivova
though, I was all in.
Eva: When I left, Joe pointed out that Freddy got mashed
potatoes in his hair, and I was like, "Oh well, gotta go!"
Me: He's probably sleeping soundly now, with those
potatoes as an extra pillow.
The boys were talking about Bill Gates (not sure why, I
wasn't there).
Patrick: Do you wish you were Bill Gates?
Pat: No, than I wouldn't have you.
Patrick: Did you just say something nice to me?!
On Saturday, Mo, Frita and I went to get Sean's birthday
present. We then decided we should start
putting it together (and by "we" I mean Pat and Patrick put it
partially together.) Then we drove it
down to Sean & Stacey's - only Stacey and the girls had just gotten home
when we got there, and then as we were outside (and it was FREEZING) getting
the Chiminea all set up, Sean came home.
Jackie helped distract him by locking him out of the house without
explanation. It was a whirlwind - but I
think Sean will totally appreciate it someday.
I mean look how happy he was?
Then my mom made me a ham (yum!) and we played
canasta. The next morning, I took Percy
outside, and he was voraciously sniffing the snow. Then, I watched him hop, hop and shove his
whole head in the snow, followed by some squeaks coming from the mouse that he
had caught. I was both impressed and
horrified before I told him to drop it.
I also got to meet up with Briana & Austin on Sunday
morning. We went to Ben Franklin and
took a little walk until Austin's got chilly. (Really good call by Banana to go
somewhere that we could loop. Is this
the kind of magically knowledge you get when you become a mom?) Then I asked my mom and dad to bring me to
Sean's on our way to the airport so I could teach them how to play Ticket to
Ride. We played until the very last
moment, and it was super fun.
On my way back from the airport, I got a phone call from
Lucas asking me not to go to sleep. I
didn't think that was a problem because I hadn't gotten home yet. He said he wanted to make sure that we could
chat before he left. Which we did, until
like 1 in the morning, which was awesome, especially since he had to leave for
the airport at 4 am.
Zach: The wedding was lovely, but you know those 7
prayers that they say?
Me: No. I haven't
been to a Jewish wedding since your parents - and even that was halfsies.
Zach: Well, they call 14 people up to read the prayers
both in Herbrew and English and it is a real snoozefest.
That's when he told me he was going to do it differently
for his wedding - but I just realized I don't want to ruin the surprise. :)
I hope you all are having a great week!
